Credits go to Cameron Hodge, Malcom and Martin Mäs who all highlighted issues to me following my previous entry about RMAN – and sorry for any disappointment but I wasn’t aware of all these nice little things.
Ok, you’d upgrade your RMAN Catalog to be ready to backup/recover Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 databases and you see this error:
RMAN> upgrade catalog; error creating create_deleted_object_seq RMAN-00571: =========================================================== RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS =============== RMAN-00571: =========================================================== RMAN-06004: ORACLE error from recovery catalog database: ORA-00439: feature not enabled: Partitioning
Now you start to wonder as your Catalog Database had been an Oracle Standard Edition (SE) database for quite a while – and of course an SE database does not have Partitioning on. And on the side the Oracle Partitioning Option is licensable option.
First of all this new behavior gets introduced with Oracle Database 12.1.0.2. And as far as I know it is not documented in relation to the “upgrade catalog“.
The valid workaround leads to a new feature called Infrastructure Repository Database – which is always an EE database without the need for extra licensening as all feature will be used only by Oracle internal mechanisms.
Licensing doc:
http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/DBLIC/editions.htm#DBLIC119
Infrastructure Repository Databases
A separate single instance Oracle Database can be
installed and used as an infrastructure repository for
RMAN, Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control,
Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) Warehouse, Global
Data Services Catalog, and Grid Infrastructure
Management Repository without additional license
requirements, provided that all the targets are
correctly licensed. It may not be used or deployed for
other uses.The infrastructure repositories for RMAN, Oracle
Enterprise Manager Cloud Control, AWR Warehouse, and
Global Data Services Catalog can be shared in one
database, or deployed in separate databases. Enterprise
Edition must be used for the infrastructure
repository database(s).
Furthermore the Recovery Manager documentation mentions this:
Creating and Managing Virtual Private Catalogs with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2)
Note:
Starting with
Oracle Database 12c Release 1
(12.1.0.2), virtual private catalogs can be used
only with the Enterprise Edition of the Oracle
Database. This functionality is not supported for
the Standard Edition.
Now this is a bit misleading as most of you won’t use the Virtual Private Catalogs – but even though you may not use it still some of the functionality is in your catalog already. And therefore every RMAN catalog beginning with Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 must be hosted in an Enterprise Edition database which does not require an EE license.
The next question is:
How do I migrate my catalog into an EE database?
There are two options whereas I’d prefer the one mentioned in the RMAN documentation:
- Import the RMAN catalog
- Please see the doc – it’s fairly straight forward
- Migrate your database to become an EE
- Please see the Upgrade Guide – also fairly simple and straight forward
And there are more things to mention:
- DBMS_LOB package must be present
- UTL_HTTP must be present
To summarize to successfully upgrade your RMAN catalog:
- You need to execute this script before upgrading the catalog:
SQL> @$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/dbmsrmansys.sql - Your database hosting the RMAN Catalog beginning with Oracle 12.1.0.2:
- Must be an Enterprise Edition database – no EE license required
- Oracle Partitioning Option must be installed – no Partitioning lincese required
- DBMS_LOB and UTL_HTTP packages must be present
–Mike
PS: Credits for this addition go to Malcom!!! In addition to RMAN Catalog Database now requiring to be in an EE database this database will require the Partitioning Option linked in as well. See MOS Note:1927265.1
PPS: Credits to my colleague, Rui Correia for pointing me to this being recently fixed (in 12.2 and as one-off patch on top of 12.1.0.2.0 available) – see Bug 20432873 – RMAN – Remove Partitoning Dependency as it causes “ORA-00439: feature not enabled: Partitioning” in Oracle
Standard Edition (Doc ID 20432873.8)
Actually, the first mention of infrastructure database in licensing was in 10.2 (http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/license.102/b14199/editions.htm#sthref27), so it is not really a new feature
Thanks – I know that but it seems to become more and more used by several groups.
Thanks for your pointer – good hint!
Cheers
Mike
What if your database is EE but partitioning has been turned off for some reason?
This is the case with my current employer. He has a linux server with several production databases sharing the same home directory. All other servers seem to have partitioning on so I am unsure why this one doesn’t.
Is it a case you must have partitioning enabled to be able to upgrade your catalog to 12102?
Could ther be a scenario where you would have partitioning turned off in a EE environment other than a licensning issue?
Good question – I’d assume YES – but in order to be 100% sure you’ll please have to open an SR.
Thanks, Mike
Thanks Mike,
I raised a SR with Oracle as you, advised.
As you suspected having partitioning turned on is a requirement to upgrading to Catalog version 12.1.0.2, albeit an undocumented one.
This is published in "ORA-00439: feature not enabled: Partitioning ( Doc ID 1927265.1 )"
Thanks for your update – I have updated the original blog post with your input – thanks for all your effort & time!!!
Cheers
Mike
In case anyone else has concerns about licensing, we questioned Oracle on turning partitioning on if you are not actually licensed to use partitioning.
Oracle’s response was "You should be good as long as Partitioning is only used by Oracle/RMAN for RMAN purposes."
Obviously, check with Oracle for your own individual circumstances before turning partitioning on, if you are not licensed.
Hi Mike,
thanks for the article. I ran into the same problem.
In addition to the above I found out that both the DBMS_LOB as well as the UTL_HTTP packages must be installed to be able to create an rman catalog. I think oracle should document this better…
regards, Martin.
Martin,
thanks for the information – I will update the original blog post – and I wasn’t aware of it.
Thanks for this input!!!
Mike
Hi Mike, Does the licensed Oracle 12c Standard Edition one comes with the RMAN in it?
Hi there,
RMAN is always license free. The change in Oracle 12.1.0.2 and onwards to previous versions in case you are using a RMAN CATALOG DATABASE is:
– the catalog database needs to be an EE
– it has to have partitioning linked in
– this is license free and can be used by anybody
RMAN is independet of any license agreement for SE ONE, SE or EE.
Hope this helps – cheers
Mike
Mike, can the EMCC-DB and RManCatalog-DB be in separate instances on the same machine and in the same ORACLE_HOME?
Obviously, they can be set up that way, but does the Infrastructure license cover that configuration?
Steven,
in my understanding it does of course.
Cheers
Mike
What if RMAN is in use on a test server used for restore testing, but the restore testing is via a third party application. Is it still free? Thanks.
RMAN is always for free as long as you have any Oracle database license as far as I know 🙂
CHeers
Mike
Just noticed the response to my query on 10 September, thank you!
Hi! I know this is an old thread, hoping you may still be checking it… we would like to replicate our RMAN database using data guard, do you know if we need to license the standby copy of the rman DB?
And I finally found the answer right after posting this: yes, it does need to be licensed… Not sure why I never saw that while looking. 🙂
http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/DBLIC/editions.htm#BABDFJIC
Thanks for answering your own question 🙂 🙂 🙂
And yes, a standby must be licensed always correctly.
Thanks!
Mike
Steve here again.
Recently in an EMCC Install/Upgrade course the instructor stated that from a licensing standpoint, EMCC (assume everything is on the same physical server — Database, Admin Server, Weblogic, BI, etc. with no RAC and no Data Guard) and an RMan Catalog Database can no longer be installed into the same instance. From the 12.2 docs (pasted below) it looks pretty clear that it’s allowed. Do you have any comments or possibly conflicting info, Mike?
http://docs.oracle.com/database/122/DBLIC/Licensing-Information.htm#DBLIC-GUID-75262092-CD86-4B30-A21B-92ECC1C2E130
Infrastructure Repository Databases
A separate single instance Oracle Database can be installed and used as an infrastructure repository for RMAN, Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control, Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) Warehouse, Global Data Services Catalog, Sharding Catalog, and Grid Infrastructure Management Repository without additional license requirements, provided that all the targets are correctly licensed. It may not be used or deployed for other uses.
The infrastructure repositories for RMAN, Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control, AWR Warehouse, Global Data Services Catalog, and Sharding Catalog can be shared in one database, or deployed in separate databases. Enterprise Edition must be used for the infrastructure repository database(s).
If Oracle RAC is used for the infrastructure database, then Oracle RAC licenses for all servers, and Enterprise Edition licenses for all but the first server, are required.
If Data Guard is used for the infrastructure database for RMAN, Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control, AWR Warehouse, Global Data Services, and Grid infrastructure management Repository, then an Enterprise Edition license for the standby server is required. The Infrastructure Database for the Sharding Catalog can be protected with Data Guard without a second Enterprise Edition license.
Steven,
was this an Oracle instructor or the instructor of a partner?
The source of truth is the Licensing Guide.
I have no other sources than that 🙂
Cheers
Mike
Hi Mike,
It was a course held at an Oracle partner facility.
At the time I thought it seemed fishy, but I didn’t have the energy or desire to argue about it. I should have asked the instructor for evidence, but I didn’t want to commit Beleidigung. 😉
Thanks for the input,
Steve
Hi Mike,
It’s worth to notice in another PPPS that having EE is required even after resolving bug 20432873 (at least when you use VPC). In case if you try you will get:
RMAN-06004: ORACLE error from recovery catalog database: ORA-00439: feature not
enabled: Fine-grained access control
It corrupts catalog as well. There is the note about it: 2123915.1.
Best Regards,
Łukasz
Thanks Lukasz!!!
Mike
Hi Mike,
I created a catalog in a 18.3 SE2 and it worked fine.
Same in 12.2.
I had also no problems with the backup.
Is that now possible again?
Regards
Jens
Jens,
very good question. I didn’t verify if they changed this back in 12.2.0.1. The RMAN catalog was based on partitioning in 12.1.0.2 – I can only think of that they lifted something in 12.2.0.1.
Thanks for the information.
Cheers,
Mike